Crown Submission
Agreement
Governing all collectibles submitted for grading, authentication & encapsulation
Effective Date: May 6, 2026
This Submission Agreement governs all collectibles submitted to Crown Grading for grading, review, authentication evaluation, imaging, encapsulation, database entry, or any related service. By submitting collectibles to Crown, the customer acknowledges and agrees to the terms below, as well as Crown’s Terms of Service, Surface Integrity Standards, and any other applicable published policies.
Related Policies:
Customer Submission Responsibility
Customers are responsible for accurately entering all submission information, including but not limited to:
Crown may assist with identification or corrections during intake, but the customer remains responsible for submission accuracy.
Crown reserves the right to correct obvious submission errors, request clarification, or adjust submission details as needed for processing.
Declared Value
Customers are responsible for assigning a declared value to each submitted item.
Declared value may be used for:
Important: Declared value is not a guaranteed appraisal, insurance policy, buyout price, or market guarantee. Crown does not guarantee the future value, resale value, investment performance, or market liquidity of any submitted item.
If Crown determines that a submitted item appears materially undervalued, Crown may request an adjusted declared value or service tier before continuing processing.
Shipping to Crown
Customers assume all risk of loss, theft, delay, or damage while items are in transit to Crown.
Crown is not responsible for packages that are:
Customers are strongly encouraged to use:
Packaging Requirements
Customers are responsible for packaging submitted items securely.
Crown recommends submitting cards using:
Customers should avoid:
Crown is not responsible for damage caused by inadequate packaging before receipt or during unpacking if the packaging creates unreasonable handling risk.
Intake & Condition Documentation
Upon receipt, Crown may document submissions through internal intake procedures, including but not limited to:
Intake documentation is used for operational accuracy, security, quality control, and dispute prevention.
Crown reserves the right to pause processing if a submission appears incomplete, mislabeled, damaged, inconsistent, or unclear.
Grading Is an Opinion
All grades, designations, and review outcomes issued by Crown are professional opinions based on Crown’s standards, tools, and procedures at the time of review. Grading is inherently subjective.
Customers acknowledge that reasonable differences may exist between:
Crown does not guarantee that another company, buyer, seller, marketplace, or collector will agree with any Crown grade or designation.
Grading opinions reflect condition assessment only and should not be interpreted as financial advice.
AI-Assisted Grading Disclosure
Crown may use AI-assisted systems, imaging tools, software workflows, and automated analysis as part of the grading and review process. These tools may assist with centering analysis, surface review, anomaly detection, consistency checks, imaging evaluation, database matching, and operational workflow support.
AI-assisted tools support grading consistency and efficiency. Final review remains subject to Crown’s internal standards, human oversight, and quality control procedures.
No AI-assisted system is guaranteed to be flawless, complete, or error-free.
Surface Integrity, Alteration & Restoration Review
Submitted items may be reviewed for evidence of alteration, trimming, recoloring, restoration, chemical treatment, surface enhancement, gloss modification, scratch filling, counterfeit characteristics, or other condition-modifying processes.
Cards exhibiting evidence of such processes may receive designations including but not limited to:
Not all alterations, restorations, or counterfeit characteristics are detectable. Crown does not guarantee detection of every form of alteration, restoration, or counterfeit production.
Customers are encouraged to review Crown’s Surface Integrity Standards before submitting.
Encapsulation & Handling Risk
Customers acknowledge that grading, handling, imaging, and encapsulation involve physical interaction with submitted collectibles.
Although Crown uses care when handling submitted items, collectibles may contain hidden weaknesses, manufacturing defects, prior damage, material instability, or fragile condition issues.
Crown is not responsible for damage arising from:
Crown will make reasonable efforts to handle submitted items with care throughout the grading and encapsulation process.
Turnaround Times
Actual turnaround times may vary due to:
Crown does not guarantee completion dates unless explicitly stated in writing.
Submission delays do not automatically entitle customers to refunds, discounts, credits, or damages.
Fees, Payments & Refunds
Customers are responsible for all applicable grading fees, service fees, shipping fees, insurance fees, taxes, and any other charges associated with their submission.
Once grading, review, authentication evaluation, imaging, intake processing, or related work has begun, fees may be non-refundable.
Crown may decline, pause, or return submissions if payment is incomplete, disputed, reversed, or otherwise unresolved.
Return Shipping
Customers are responsible for selecting and paying for return shipping options.
Crown may use third-party carriers for return shipment. Once a completed submission is transferred to the carrier, risk of loss, theft, delay, or damage during return transit may transfer to the carrier and/or customer, subject to any purchased insurance and applicable carrier policies.
Crown is not responsible for carrier delays, routing errors, misdelivery, theft after delivery, or damage caused by carrier mishandling after the package has been transferred to the carrier.
Customers are encouraged to select appropriate shipping and insurance options based on declared value and risk tolerance.
Insurance Limitations
Any insurance purchased or applied to a shipment is subject to the terms, exclusions, limits, and claims procedures of the applicable carrier or insurance provider.
Declared value does not automatically guarantee insurance coverage.
Crown does not guarantee that a carrier or insurance provider will approve any claim.
Customers are responsible for understanding the insurance options selected during submission or shipment.
Maximum Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, Crown’s total liability for any claim relating to submitted collectibles shall be limited to the lesser of:
Crown shall not be liable for:
This limitation applies whether the claim arises from grading, handling, storage, imaging, encapsulation, transit, database display, or related services.
High-Value Items
Customers submitting high-value items are responsible for:
Crown reserves the right to require additional verification, adjusted service tiers, special handling procedures, or additional fees for high-value submissions.
Refusal or Return of Submissions
Crown reserves the right to refuse, pause, or return any submission for reasons including but not limited to:
If a submission is refused or returned, customers may still be responsible for shipping, handling, intake, or administrative fees where applicable.
Abandoned Submissions
If Crown is unable to contact a customer, collect payment, confirm return shipping, or resolve submission issues after repeated attempts, the submission may be considered abandoned after 3 months of no contact.
Abandoned submissions may be subject to storage fees, return delays, or other actions permitted by applicable law.
Database, Imaging & Public Display
By submitting items to Crown, customers authorize Crown to:
Crown may display certification information and item imagery in its public database unless restricted by law or otherwise agreed in writing.
Customer Representations
By submitting items to Crown, the customer represents that:
Crown may refuse or hold submissions if ownership, authenticity, legality, or authorization concerns arise.
Policy Updates
Crown may update this Submission Agreement, grading standards, submission requirements, fees, policies, and procedures at any time.
Updated policies become effective upon publication to the Crown website.
The version in effect at the time of submission generally governs that submission unless otherwise required by law or agreed in writing.
Relationship to Other Crown Policies
This Submission Agreement works together with Crown’s other policies. If there is a conflict between general website terms and this Submission Agreement regarding submitted collectibles, this Submission Agreement should control for submission-related matters unless otherwise stated.
Contact
Questions regarding submissions, policies, or this Submission Agreement may be directed through Crown’s official website contact channels.
📨 Contact Crown Support ›Customer Acknowledgment
By submitting collectibles to Crown Grading, the customer acknowledges reading and agreeing to this Submission Agreement in full, including the following:
I have read and agree to Crown Grading’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
I have read and agree to Crown Grading’s Submission Agreement, Surface Integrity Standards, and applicable grading and submission policies.
I understand that grading is subjective, turnaround times are estimates, declared value is not guaranteed insurance, and Crown’s liability is limited as described in the Submission Agreement.
These acknowledgments will be presented as required checkboxes during the submission and checkout process.